This invention relates generally to organizer notebooks and, more specifically, to an organizer notebook that is capable of retaining index cards.
Organizing one's workload by time in such a way that the complete work schedule and work activities are easily visible to the user is difficult in work situations that require moving from place to place. For example, homecare nurses are required to move from patient to patient and to perform various activities for each patient at different times. There is presently no satisfactory system available for assisting these nurses in tracking required activities over a period of time that can vary from a few days to a few months. Since homecare nurses spend the majority of their time away from the office, they require an organizer system that is portable and easy to use, that does not require extensive proficiency training, and that provides complete visibility of work activities to be performed during the upcoming week, as well as over a time period that may extend several weeks or months into the future.
A number of time organizer systems are presently commercially available. These systems include ringbinder systems that are both portable and secure. However, these prior art ringbinder systems are disadvantageous in that they do not readily and completely display future work activities, but instead require flipping through pages to view work to be performed on future dates. The user cannot look at time demands in organizer systems of this type and readily determine if the upcoming week's workload is reaching capacity. Since these prior art sytems employ back-to-back page printing, a second person covering a particular day's work must recopy or photocopy the associated pages. Removing and reinserting pages into a ringbinder is cumbersome. Snap mechanisms fail; rings become misaligned; and visibility is limited to one page at a time.
Some nurses use what are commonly referred to as travel charts. These charts contain copies of portions of a patient record. They are disadvantageous in that they duplicate information from a permanent patient chart that resides in the office. They therefore require photocopying time and put patient confidentiality at risk. Though information regarding upcoming events can be viewed, this system is not portable since it is the size of a file drawer and cannot be dropped without the risk of files flying everywhere.
Computerized calendars in the form of laptops, palmtops, and personal organizers are portable and do provide security for the information stored therein. However, they are typically expensive and do not provide easy and complete visibility of upcoming work activities.
A number of prior art references are directed to ringbinder time organizers. They do not provide at-a-glance views of upcoming work and simple, non-repetitive documentation. Representative of these references are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,333,908, 5,033,899, 5,529,418, 5,590,911, 5,294,208, 5,494,366, 4,699,538, Des. 329,745, Des. 330,115, and Des. 389,514.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,039 is directed to an improved ringbinder in which paper can be removed and moved within the binder. However, this device is deficient in that it also fails to provide at-a-glance visibility of upcoming work activities.
U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 380,235 and Des. 377,713 are directed to holders and cases for index cards and rotary file cards. However, these devices do not satisfactorily hold a multitude of cards.
U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 339,161, Des. 334,026, Des. 247,042, and Des. 248,962 are directed to card holders. However, these devices are intended for stationary use as they have no covers, do not provide for security of information, and have no portability without risk of loss of the cards intended to be retained therein.
Exemplary of other types of card holders are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,732,977, 5,683,193, 5,421,665, 4,803,795, 4,105,270, 5,213,433, 4,949,484, 4,091,918, 4,906,057, Des. 261,280, and Des. 283,902. All of these devices are disadvantageous for use in homecare nursing applications, for example.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an organizer notebook for holding index cards that provides complete workload visibilty at a glance, portability, security, and the flexibility of retaining additional work materials. Such an organizer notebook is provided, in accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiment of the present invention, to include a portable zippered case that prevents loss of the index cards retained therein in the event it is accidentally dropped. A cardholder member having a flat base is secured within the zippered case. Alternatively, the cardholder member may be removable from the zippered case. The cardholder member provides for flexibility of the content of the cards retained thereby, as well as the number of cards within a given section. Dated cards enable the user to quickly view upcoming work. Cards on which repetitive activity is documented may be easily moved within the cardholder member for association with a future date on which the activity is to be repeated. The zippered case also includes provision for holding pens, pencils, additional cards, and other papers, as desired.